Wednesday 25 April 2012 06.46 EDT
First published on Wednesday 25 April 2012 06.46 EDT

If you've found yourself waking up in a cold sweat over a forthcoming meeting, are unable to stop tinkering with a spreadsheet, or find yourself firing up your laptop in the pub when you're supposed to be meeting friends, you may have found yourself accused of being a workaholic.

But what many of us have long suspected about ourselves and others can apparently be tested scientifically, using a method devised by psychologists from the University of Bergen in Norway in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University.

Researchers led by Dr Cecilie Schou Andreassen claim "new technology and blurred boundaries between work and private life" has led to an increase in work addiction, which is associated with insomnia, health issues and stress, as well as "creating conflict between work and family life".

The test, named the Bergen Work Addiction Scale, was devised following a study involving 12,135 Norwegian employees from 25 different industries. It analyses seven types of behaviour associated with addictions such as drug and alcohol abuse – salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, relapse and problems – and applies them to the workplace.

It suggests that people who have completely stopped exercising as a result of work, and often spend more time working than they originally intended, could well be workaholics.

Does that sound like you? Take the test and find out …

Look at each of the following statements and give yourself a score between 1 and 5 for each, where: 1 = Never; 2 = Rarely; 3 = Sometimes; 4 = Often and 5 = Always.

1. You think of how you can free up more time to work.

2. You spend much more time working than initially intended.

3. You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness and depression.

4. You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them.

5. You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.

6. You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities and exercise because of your work.

7. You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.

Andreassen says if you score 4 or 5 on at least four of the seven statements it may suggest you are a workaholic.

So how did you do? When it comes to work are you more Bill Gates or Homer Simpson?